So despite my best efforts of begging and pleading I was unable to go back to the eco lodge for the second part of my Raleigh adventure. In true Big Brother fashion lots of Project Managers had fallen out and I was asked to go elsewhere to help out on a different site. The elsewhere turned out to be Mantanani Island, which is as far removed from the Jungle Mungle as you can get. I seriously got to live on a paradise island. See......
For any of you feeling sorry for me living rough I'm afraid this may very well pee you off. I was indeed sleeping on the concrete floor of a pooey cow shed HOWEVER you open the front door and walk into a malibu commercial!!! Mantanani is one of the most magical places I have ever been and I got to live there for a little bit.
Alas there was no malibu, just a very poor school in dire need of a library - and that's exactly what they got. Courtesy of a new batch of youffs and a new Project Manager partner called Nigel. I am so incredibly proud of what the group achieved on the island. We taught English, arranged sports afternoons and generall
y became members of a very tight nit community. It was amazing - I loved my time there (as you can see by my slightly excited jump out of the finished article!). We had such a great group.
Alas there was no malibu, just a very poor school in dire need of a library - and that's exactly what they got. Courtesy of a new batch of youffs and a new Project Manager partner called Nigel. I am so incredibly proud of what the group achieved on the island. We taught English, arranged sports afternoons and generall
y became members of a very tight nit community. It was amazing - I loved my time there (as you can see by my slightly excited jump out of the finished article!). We had such a great group.On a rare day off we hired a boat and went to an uninhabited haunted island (Little Manatnani) where we spent the night sleeping on the beach. It was something that I will remember for a very long 
time. A definite once in a lifetime experience. It's already hard to believe that I was actually there.
time. A definite once in a lifetime experience. It's already hard to believe that I was actually there.Lots of highlights from my second phase namely the fact that I helped build a library. Also, swimming with turtles, seeing a dolphin, sleeping on a beach, realising I don't suck at Hockey, watching the most amazing sunsets ever, singing Disney songs till 2am on the pier and cold 
diet coke at the end of the day!!!
diet coke at the end of the day!!!Low lights are few are far between but I'll go with: being woken at 5.30am every morning by the call to pray, cow poo EVERYWHERE!, children shrieking "what's your name? what's your name?" every 5 seconds, watching locals empty their rubbish into the sea, realising I suck at football, volleyball and pretty much all other sport (other than hockey), having to leave!
During my time there I managed to accumulate quite a few nicknames but my fave has to be from the little girls in the sunset piccie above. One night I was sitting outside our cow shed home and they came over all giggling and nudging each other. I kept saying Apa? (meaning what? cos obviously I am now fluent in Malay!!!) Eventually the braver of the two took out her pencil and poked me in the chest, shouting PLASTICO, PLASTICO - suffice to say the group found it hilarious and the name pretty much stuck!
Just like Pata Puteh, I have a zillion stories from the island but for now the piccies can sum it up for me. Look at what we built.........
No comments:
Post a Comment